The Milhous Collection: Carousels, cars and orchestrions - Classic Driver - MAGAZINE

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Classic Life

10/02/2012
The Milhous Collection: Carousels, cars and orchestrions

Gilded Various Wood Brass Inset and Marble 35-Foot Antique Front and Back Bar: $60,000 - 90,000

Those of you who might be proud of that complete 1966 World Cup Commemorative Coin display should see what the Milhous brothers amassed during their half-century of collecting.

From 24 to 25 February this year, RM Auctions, in association with Sotheby’s, will offer what must be one of the most unusual private museums ever to come to public auction.

The massive (378-page, 10in x 14in) catalogue fully does justice to the 510 items listed therein. You will have heard of antique gun collectors. The world of mechanical musical instruments, too, has its devotees. Likewise furniture, the decorative arts and, of course, classic cars.


Pair of Colt NRA SAA Revolvers with Ivory Handles: $3750 - 5500	1962 Lesovsky Indianapolis Roadster: $150,000 - 250,000

Petroliana has its followers, I would vouch, and clock collecting must be as old as time itself. But what sets the work of Bob and Paul Milhous apart from everyday men of particular passions is both the depth, and appreciation of only the finest, most perfect examples of ALL of these categories.

Oh, and you can add to that list a ‘1998 46ft Custom Carousel with 42 animals, two chariots and a Wurlitzer 153 Band Organ’ ($1m – 1.5m). And Lot 228, an ‘Exceptional and Rare Gilded Various Wood Brass Inset and Marble 35ft Antique Front and Back Bar’, yours for $60,000 – 90,000 (and an extension to the TV room).

1920 Welte Philharmonic Pipe Organ: $150,000 - $275,000

All of these can be viewed online, on rmauctions.com, and do have a look at the video to see just what these early mechanical musical machines can do.

Particularly when you consider that everyday pocket-sized object, the iPod, and the way it has changed all our lives.

The sale will take place at The Milhous Museum, 791 Park of Commerce Drive, Boca Ratan, Florida 33487, USA. Preview days are 22, 23 February, with the sale starting at 10:00 AM on both 24 and 25 February.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: RM Auctions

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